Tag: Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke somehow managed to throw a changeup at a faster speed than his fastball

Zack Greinke plays by his own rules.

Despite being a massive disappointment in 2023, the Kansas City Royals are at least heading into the offseason with some positive momentum. They’ve won 10 of their past 12 games and still have Zack Greinke being Zack Greinke on the mound.

Even in his 20th MLB season, Greinke remains one of the more unique pitchers and personalities in baseball. Like, who else would shake off his own pitch call? Nobody. He’s one of a kind. That also applies to his pitch velocity — nothing about it needs to make sense.

Typically, a pitcher will throw a changeup to change speeds on a batter. It looks like a fastball out of the hand, but a drop in velocity and sharper movement is supposed to throw off the batter. On Tuesday, Greinke threw a changeup that was FASTER than his fastball. With Greinke, rules don’t matter.

Now, this didn’t happen in the same at-bat. But it’s hilarious to see his fastball and changeup both settling in the high 80s. Last season, he matched velocities with those two pitches in one at-bat … also against the Tigers.

Either way, it worked wonders because Greinke went five innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball before the Royals bullpen let the game get away from them.

Fans also loved seeing that fastball-changeup combo from Greinke. He must be protected at all costs.

Zack Greinke couldn’t help but smile when his ex-teammate used the pitcher’s warmup music in tribute

This was a delightful moment.

Well this is just the sweetest moment you’ll see.

As the broadcast noted from the clip below, Zack Geinke isn’t one to smile on the mound during a start. But in this situation, he had to.

The Kansas City Royals pitcher was facing the Cleveland Guardians’ Myles Straw, and the pair happened to be teammates back in Houston with the Astros. Straw used the John Anderson tune Seminole Wind as his walk-up song, and Greinke loved it, cracking a smile.

MORE: Every MLB stadium in 2023, ranked

That’s because it was Greinke’s warm-up song when he was with the Astros. It’s a lovely tribute from Straw to Greinke:

“I thought I would get a smile out of him, and that’s about what it was,” Straw said, via MLB.com. “Maybe a little bit more than I thought. Pretty cool to see that. He’s one of the best. Hall of Famer. Great person. I’m glad I got a smile out of him.”

Zack Greinke hilariously switched pitch-calling duties with Salvador Perez in the middle of an at-bat

He’s truly one of a kind.

Zack Greinke joined exclusive company on Saturday when he became just the fifth pitcher in MLB history to strike out 1,000 different batters. As cool as the milestone was for the future Hall of Famer, Greinke still went into the game with his own unique approach to baseball.

He didn’t wait long to try something new out there.

Facing the Brewers’ Jesse Winker in the first inning, Greinke — who typically calls his own pitches in a PitchCom role reversal — decided that he wanted catcher Salvador Perez to take over the pitch-calling duties with Winker facing a 1-2 count.

He signaled to Perez as if to say “your turn” and let the Royals catcher lead the approach to Winker.

I could see pitchers and catchers changing the approach with each batter, but only Greinke would do something like that in the middle of an at-bat. After all, this is the same pitcher who shakes off his own pitch calls.

The strategy worked too because Winker would strike out in the at-bat. MLB fans also enjoyed this latest delightful moment from Greinke.

Zack Greinke shook off his own pitch call and was delightfully thrilled with that choice

Protect this man at ALL costs.

There isn’t a player in Major League Baseball who is more unique than Zack Greinke. He approaches every aspect of the game in such a one-of-kind fashion that we shouldn’t be surprised by how he uses MLB’s PitchCom system.

Rather than having the catcher relay the calls through a wristband, Greinke calls the pitches himself through PitchCom to the catcher. And apparently, Greinke even has some internal disagreements over pitch strategy. He handles those moments in the most Zack Greinke of ways.

During Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Greinke was seen shaking off a pitch that he called himself before throwing a fastball past Brandon Belt for a strikeout. But watch Greinke’s reaction: He was so impressed with his own call.

Greinke mentioned during spring training that he was getting used to the system. So, sometimes when he shakes off his own pitch calls, he’s realizing that he hit the wrong button.

Yet, I like to think that he’s just having a dialogue with himself on the mound over pitch selection. It’s more fun that way.

Greinke ended up going six inning of one-run baseball but took the loss as the Royals fell, 3-0. Still, MLB fans particularly loved this latest moment from Greinke.

Zack Greinke avoided a pitch clock violation in the most Zack Greinke way when his PitchCom malfunctioned

Only Greinke would do this.

Every big-league player is using this spring training to get acquainted to the new MLB rules. Pitchers have to deal with a pitch clock and pickoff limit, and batters also have to be ready to hit by the eight-second mark.

But those rules don’t account for a PitchCom malfunction. Zack Greinke learned that as it happened on Tuesday night.

During a Cactus League game between the Royals and Reds, Greinke was having some issues with his PitchCom. And rather than taking a pitch clock violation to address the problem, Greinke broke out the most Greinke of pitches: his 47 mph eephus pitch.

The pitch was taken low for a ball. A pitch clock violation also would have been a ball, so the pitch technically didn’t make much of a difference. But it’s always hilarious when we get to see Greinke break out the eephus pitch — even when he didn’t want to.

Greinke took a pitch clock violation earlier in the inning and struck out Joey Votto on the next pitch.

So, he’s able to work through either approach. Fans, in particular, enjoyed seeing how Greinke handled the situation.

La tonta decisión de los Orioles de retrasar la barda del jardín izquierdo, le robó a Ryan Mountcastle un HR de 407 pies

El Oriole Park en Camden Yards es un estadio que ha inspirado a casi todos los nuevos estadio de baseball estas últimas dos décadas. Pero con 30 años, el estadio ha necesitado mejoras en los últimos años. Eso hizo que la decisión de los Orioles de …

El Oriole Park en Camden Yards es un estadio que ha inspirado a casi todos los nuevos estadio de baseball estas últimas dos décadas. Pero con 30 años, el estadio ha necesitado mejoras en los últimos años.

Eso hizo que la decisión de los Orioles de dedicarles recursos a mover la barda del jardín izquierdo tan extraña.

Este pretemporada pasada, la directiva de los Orioles movió la barda del jardín izquierdo 30 pies hacia atrás y la elevó a 13 pies. Estéticamente, se veía horrible con una extraña esquina que salía hacia el lado izquierdo central del campo. Claro, el equipo quería hacer más difícil a los oponentes el que anotaran home- runs, pero al hacerlo, lo hicieron más difícil para ellos mismos.

Sólo pregúntenle a Ryan Mountcastle.

Traducción.- El cambio a este estadio es terrible

Durante la quinta entrada del juego del domingo contra los Kansas City Royals, Mountcastle le dio a una pelota de Zack Greinke hacia el jardín izquierdo. Dejando de lado la pelota muerta, eso debió de hacer sido un home- run. Pero debido a la nueva barda, la pelota siguió en juego, y Mountcastle se tuvo que conformar con un doble largo en vez del home- run que empataría el juego.

Y eso piso el doble de 407 pies en perspectiva, eso habría sido un home- run en cualquier otro estadio de baseball.

Traducción.- Ryan Mountcastle vs Zack Greinke #Birdland

          Doble

          Velocidad salida:104.6 mph

          Angulo de salida: 23°

          Distancia proj.: 407 pies

Eso hubiera sidoun home-run en 29/30 estadios. Solo Oriole Park en Camden Yard hubiera mantenido dentro esa pelota. KC(3) @ BAL (2)

 

Los Orioles terminaron perdiendo 6-4 y en parte se lo pueden agradecer a la barda del jardín izquierdo.

Zack Greinke amazingly threw a fastball and changeup at the same speed in one Yasmani Grandal at-bat

Classic Greinke.

Zack Greinke is back with the Kansas City Royals this season, but he’s a very different pitcher from the one who earned AL Cy Young Award honors there in 2009. Yet, in true Zack Greinke fashion, he still manages to find a way to do something amazing.

Back in that 2009 season, Greinke was a pitcher who averaged 10 mph separation between his fastball and changeup. After all, most pitchers find the changeup effective when there’s a significant difference in velocity. A changeup looks like a fastball coming out of the pitcher’s hand, but the speed drop-off and movement can make life awfully difficult for the batter.

Over the years, though, that gap in Greinke’s fastball and changeup velocity has shrunk. And this season — at 38 years old — the difference has just been 2.2 mph. But during Wednesday’s game against the White Sox, Greinke unleashed a four-seam fastball and a changeup to Yasmani Grandal at the same speed — both pitches were clocked at 87 mph.

Honestly, that’s incredible.

Leave it to Greinke to break baseball norms and still find a way to make it work. Grandal ended up grounding out to first on the at-bat, and baseball fans enjoyed this latest Greinke moment.

Zack Greinke’s 51 mph eephus pitch looks mesmerizing next to his 100 mph fastball

Amazing.

When it comes to big-league pitchers, Astros ace Zack Greinke is truly one of a kind.

The 18-year vet was a high-velocity pitcher earlier in his career, especially in 2010 with the Royals where he’d throw multiple pitches at 100 mph. But as Greinke has aged, he’s taken to a more finesse approach on the mound.

He’s seen his fastball velocity drop to the 88-90 mph range, and he’s added a hilariously slow eephus pitch to his repertoire.

Greinke threw an eephus just twice in the shortened 2020 season, but on Monday, he broke out the pitch for the first time in 2021. It was a glorious, 51 mph pitch that was called for a strike against Detroit’s Renato Núñez.

The pitch was even better when you see it in a side-by-side video with his 100 mph fastball from 2010.

Amazing.

You basically have time to watch the 100 mph pitch and then turn your focus to the eephus video before the ball reaches the glove. It was that slow.

That’s a 49 mph difference in velocity, and they both went for strikes. It doesn’t get much better than that.

https://youtu.be/BcYr2ualrOo

Zack Greinke threw a 51 mph eephus pitch for a strike and it was so beautiful

This was so great.

Zack Greinke was back doing Zack Greinke things Monday night and man, was this a fun one to watch.

I’m talking, of course, about the Astros pitcher throwing a 51 mph eephus pitch to a professional hitter who could only stand there and watch it go by for a called strike.

Greinke has thrown this pitch before and every time he does it we should all stop and watch it because it’s just too much fun.

On Monday night he caught Detroit’s Renato Núñez off guard with this awesome pitch and the six-year MLB veteran probably wishes he had this moment back.

Check this out:

Gorgeous! Though maybe Greinke should have thrown all of his pitches like that because he gave up six runs in 4.2 innings of work.

Twitter loved that pitch:

 

Zack Greinke explained why he has actually enjoyed playing games without fans

“I don’t like any of that stuff.”

While the entire regular season was played in empty ballparks, the National League Championship Series has been played in front of limited attendance at Globe Life Field in Arlington. And MLB plans to have the same setup for the World Series.

The American League Championship Series in San Diego, though, has remained behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions in California.

But if it were up to Astros pitcher Zack Greinke, baseball would continue to be played in empty stadiums.

He’s not missing fans that much at all, it turns out.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Tuesday’s Game 3 of the ALCS, Greinke explained that he has preferred playing without fans because he doesn’t have to deal with people talking to him.

He said via ESPN’s Pedro Gomez:

“For me, it’s nice not having fans in the stands. Because there’s no one trying to talk to you and ask for autographs and wanting to take pictures and all that stuff. I don’t like any of that stuff.”

Sure, some people may find those comments harsh, but Greinke is known for his brutal honesty. He was never going to sugarcoat his answer to that question — that’s just not who Greinke is.

There’s nothing wrong with that either. Never change, Zack.

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